Progress in the ongoing fight between cast members appears to happen on this week’s episode of "Real Housewives of New Jersey." With the support of Wayne resident Kathy Wakile and Franklin Lakes residents Caroline Manzo and Jacqueline Laurita, Montville Township residents Teresa Giudice and Melissa and Joe Gorga finally sat down to sort down their differences.
The show started with Caroline Manzo, who was accepted to be a radio advice personality on a show called "Caroline Rules," based on herglo .msn blog of the same name. She was nervous about how much speaking the job will require her to do. A friend of hers, Dolores, helps her practice by impersonating Giudice, who is having a major family feud with the her brother and sister-in-law, Joe and Melissa.
“When Teresa talks about her issues, it’s very ‘don’t worry; we’re fine,” Manzo said. “But there are clearly worries.” She then referenced the alleged auctioning off of the Giudices’ possessions, a hot topic in the media at the time of the filming.
Meanwhile, Joe Gorga prepares to meet with Teresa. According to Melissa’s bravotv.com blog last week, the meeting took place an hour after Gia Giudice’s gymnastics meet, which was featured in last week’s episode.
“We’re making peace today, thank you Jesus,” Melissa said.
The siblings talked about their impending meeting in confessionals.
“Growing up, my sister was my best friend. I mean, we were inseparable; that’s how our father raised us to be,” Joe said. “Teresa, you know, she changed. Her heart’s not there. I’m tired of being hurt.”
Teresa said that Joe’s wife Melissa is the reason they don’t speak anymore.
“Me and my brother used to speak every day. After he got married, he changed,” Teresa said. “He needs to do something about it because a wife makes it and a wife breaks it.”
With both accusing the other of ruining the relationship, it is unsurprising when their sit down soon turned into a rehash of what has gone on in the past.
“Teresa, listen, I’m your brother,” Joe said. “You have been neglecting my family, which is my wife.”
Teresa’s issues include Joe’s feelings on how his relationship with Joe Giudice, Teresa’s husband, has changed due to Teresa’s constant bragging.
“When I first got married, I put my brother before my husband,” Teresa said. “You know who used to always tell that I shouldn’t have did that? Kathy…but my brother is my life.”
She disagreed, saying Joe Gorga’s marriage changed their relationship instead.
The show then cuts to Joe talking about how he met his wife Melissa. They first met in Cancun. Then they met against six months later at the Jersey shore, where he finally spoke to her. Teresa then talked about the two fiancées Joe had before that. She clearly believed that Melissa “loved Joey’s money.”
When Joe brings up their cousin, Kathy Wakile, Teresa is annoyed that he is using her against him. She reminisced about how her relationship with Wakile used to be, calling her “the sister she never had.” Teresa claims she realized Wakile was two-faced, however, when she began hanging out with Melissa.
“You know what? You’re fake,” Joe said. “You have your brother that you don’t even see, but you have Jacqueline and Caroline, they’re your family. You’re lost, honey.”
After going back and forth for a while, Teresa asked Joe how they can move on and make their relationship better.
“You work it out with your mother and my wife,” Joe says.
After the meeting, Joe and Melissa meet up with Kathy and Rich Wakile at the home of family friends Bob and Kim Hiza.
“The Hizas are not traditional Italians,” Wakile said. “They had a chef prepare the meal. It was nice, it was very nice. I told Kim, I have to cook for her. I have to teach her a few things.”
Melissa refused to drink wine, saying she was sick from being worried about her husband. Joe tells them about the meeting with Teresa.
“Everything went okay,” Joe said. “Did she apologize? Yes. Was she sincere? I’m not sure.”
He did acknowledge that Teresa was open to speaking with Melissa.
“I don’t want to meet this girl and say ‘you did this, you did that,’” Melissa said. She also tells Kathy that when everything is peaceful between her and Teresa, she is going to talk to her about Wakile. Wakile told Gorga not to worry about it.
“If she wants to have me in her life, she’ll have me in her life,” Wakile said.
“Listen, she’s going through some hard times,” Joe said, bringing up the auction again.
Rich Wakile said he absolutely would have helped his ailing cousins-in-law if he had known they were in bankruptcy. Joe Gorga said the same thing.
Meanwhile, Caroline is preparing for the debut broadcast of her radio talk show.
“If nobody calls; wouldn’t that be special?” she said.
“Just have fun with it,” her husband Albert said. “It’s a piece of cake. I’m going to listen, I might even call in.”
Lauren Manzo went to get her mother and drive her to the radio show.
“I think my mom could be the next big advice giver,” Manzo said. “She’s loving and she’s sweet, but she’ll tell you to [expletive] yourself with a smile on her face.”
Back at Jacqueline’s house, Teresa and her daughter Milania show up. Teresa expresses her frustration over the conversation with her husband.
“We didn’t push Melissa out. We wanted my brother to get married. My brother was on his third fiancée, believe me we wanted him married,” Giudice said. “We didn’t say boo about Melissa. Hello, we couldn’t say boo; they met and she moved in a month later.”
In the middle of the conversation, Joe Giudice calls his wife to tell her that the report on CNN that the auction of their possessions was back on is false.
“Sisters in law don’t have to be best friends, but they should be able to be civil,” Laurita says. “Caroline and I got into a fight about eight years ago. It was bad, it was ugly, but we moved on, and we’re closer than ever now
Meanwhile, at the headquarters of 101.5 Jersey radio station, Caroline is preparing for the show.
Teresa, Jacqueline, and Kathy all tune in to listen. After a long pause and a hesitant start, the calls begin to come in and Caroline begins to answer questions about family feuds.
“Arguments around the holiday table, if they don’t happen, it’s not the holidays,” Caroline said. “Guess what? I am a 49-year-old Italian mommy who’s been through it all.”
At Melissa’s house, her sister Lys talks to her about the planned meet-up at Jacqueline’s house when Kathy shows up.
“At first I wasn’t sure why they had to meet at Jacqueline’s but thinking about it more, I understand it,” Wakile said. “Sometimes I think a third party would help in our relationship so she could understand that I’m really not trying to hurt her feelings.”
“Don’t worry about me,” Melissa said. “If I really wanted to, I could eat her alive.”
Caroline gave Melissa some advice before the get together about being the bigger person and “putting on her big girl panties” before she leaves.
Teresa begins the conversation by saying she wants to make things better for their kids, her parents and her brother.
“I’m really sorry about how things got,” Teresa said. “Family is the most important thing to me.”
“It hasn’t been about family with you,” Melissa said. “I don’t see how it’s ever going to work.”